easy to say (come, take the risk)
by Marvelgeek42
Summary: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS ALSO IN SUMMARY "There is a finite amount of resources in the universe," Thanos states. "By killing half the population indiscriminately, we will free up half the resources so that everyone else can have a better life." Five things that could have been said in response and a small collection of things that were. [Team Iron Man sentiment]


**Okay so:**

 **1\. I have not seen either Homecoming or Black Panther, which is a scandal, I know, and I've only seen Infinity War once. That means that I am kind being hand wavy on the details, but I think I did a somewhat decent job.**

 **2\. I'm using Thanos as of the Avengers 1 Mid-Credit scene, back when the actor was still Damion Poitier**

 **3\. There is a tumblr post responsible for this, you can find it linked on the ao3 Version of this story.**

* * *

 ** _easy to say (come, take the risk)_**

* * *

"There is a finite amount of resources in the universe," Thanos states. "By killing half the population indiscriminately, we will free up half the resources so that everyone else can have a better life."

* * *

1.

"When the resources are not distributed evenly, killing half the population doesn't free half the resources!" Peter yells in protest. Because, really, that's kinda stupid. "Like, the resources being 'freed up' in this _hypothetical scenario_ ," he addresses Thanos directly with these words, "would be different depending on if it were, say, a widow in Queens trying to raise a teenager or Mr. Stark. No offense."

Peter doesn't think he could deal with Mr. Stark taking offense at that. He would probably take the suit back once they were back on earth which would honestly suck about as much as his period pain. Which it would soon be time for again, ugh, and _PETER FOCUS_! He mentally yells that last part at himself.

"None taken, kiddo, you're right. I've been trying to think of more ways to even the playing field besides paying for the reparations needed after missions, student debts and additional funding for smart and or ambitious students, programs for veterans, widows and widowers, orphans, survivors of abuse, campaigning for civil and human rights in all fashions all around the world — although, FRIDAY, make a note that we should rethink the term human rights — among other things. Pepper's keeping the full list when she's not too busy being CEO," Mr. Stark adds after a second, promptly followed by the AI announcing that she followed Mr. Stark's request.

"You do all that?!" the other Peter exclaims, throwing another punch at Thanos's face. "And here I was thinking you were just a dick weapons manufacturer."

"You're thinking of my father," Mr. Stark replies.

Their banter has apparently distracted Thanos a tiny little bit, but since all of _them_ seem to be used to it — even if not together — they have been able to continue their work flawlessly and manage to get the Gauntlet of Thanos.

It is a surprise when it immediately clings to Tony.

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2.

"Growing up as a traumatised survivor of a genocide is not a better life!" Gamora screams in reply. "And neither was growing up with you!"

"You had everything, Gamora, you were never went hungry, you always had the certainty of a roof over your head -"

"That is not love!" Gamora interrupts as loudly as she can. "With you, I was _surviving_ , not living. Being forced to fight my sister and then having you augment her whenever she lost, _is not love_! I've only relearned what love is with the Guardians, even if I am admittedly still afraid of what it might entail. Peter, Drax, Groot, and Rocket are more of a family to me than you ever were. Nebula and I are finally managing to actually be sisters, and bringing us together is the literal only thing I thank you for.

"You are just a manipulative, abusive, genocidal bastard. You may claim you love me, but what you feel is _not love_. Otherwise you would have explained your reasons and let _me_ decide whether or not I agreed with you and wanted to follow you. You would have cared for me beyond my ability to fight and caring to my basic needs. No, you were just trying to pretend to yourself that you are capable of love, even when it is not so. So go ahead, make me your sacrificial lamb." She had learnt that particular phrase from Quill and she had to admit that it fit quite well. "It will not work," Gamora states with absolute certainty.

"And that is where you are wrong," Thanos says, stepping closer to her and picking her up. "I am truly sorry."

He throws her down the cliff, but no Soul Stone appears.

"It seems she was right," the Red Skull announces as he disappears.

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3.

"Honestly, are you stupid?" Tony deadpans as soon as he sets eyes on that purple fool.

"By killing half the population, you're ruining infrastructure and creating holes in the workforce," Tony groans. "And sure, no one is completely irreplaceable, even I'm not."

"One would just need multiple people for it," Stephen adds which is honestly a bit confusing, because wasn't he just talking about how he'd gladly sacrifice both him and the Spiderling if necessary? Tony's getting some mixed signals here, but he can focus on that later.

"By killing people or removing them from existence or whatever you want to call it, you _will_ create holes in the economy. People can't do their jobs if other things aren't done and training people can take time. Like, if an office of even six people lose half its staff, they will fail even if they lose half their clients as well, because task division according to individual expertise is a thing. Their work is required for someone else to work, through, and they will undoubtedly have the same problem and so on and so forth."

Thanos simply shakes his head. "I have tried it once before, and it worked well."

"Okay, so first of all, I am pretty sure that you have no reliable source on this. Of course they would tell everyone, so that _you don't come back_.

"Second, as everyone who ever paid attention in a single science class will tell you, ONE IS NOT A RELIABLE SAMPLE SIZE! Just by the societies and cultures on earth — which are somewhere in the four digits I think, but I may underestimate it — I can tell you that every single one of them will react differently to the crisis this would undoubtedly bring."

During this speech, the others had noticed that it seemed to grasp all of Thanos's attention and proceeded to subtly remove the gauntlet from his hands.

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4.

"He knows he could just create more resources with these stones, right?" Shuri questions. "Even if we suppose for a moment that his theory of finite resources is true — which it isn't, especially since there are multiple terraformable _uninhabited_ planets — that would be the reasonable alternative to genocide, wouldn't it?" she asks the room at large.

"One would think so, yes," Dr. Banner agrees, "I'd argue that power corrupts, but based on the short time I've been here, Wakanda seems to have proven me wrong already."

"I'd argue that unchecked and unbalanced power corrupts," Shuri replies. "Being alone at the top, without counsel, without people to tell you when you're going too far, that's what's harmful. And obviously you need people who won't be imprisoned or so for daring to say so and who you will actually listen to, as well as think about their concerns."

"That sounds about right," Rogers comments. Shuri can positively see him using #NotAllMan unironically; such a white boy.

"How funny that you of all people say that, when I was actually almost exactly describing your behaviour patterns," Shuri notes out loud. She's good at throwing shade, yes. "Let me guess, you were thinking of Ross and Tony?"

She waits for Rogers and his group to nod. Dr. Banner questions if it is actually _that_ Ross, to which Romanoff nods.

"While I agree with the former, the latter is more than laughable. Tony is basically throwing his each and every action at the international press, asking them to point out what he could have done better. It's the same reason why he supported the Sokovia Accords not one of you bothered to read. I don't have the time to educate you on this," she deadpans when they are about to argue. "I thought we have a schedule, did that suddenly disappear?"

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5.

"Genocide is just so uncreative, ethical issues aside. I mean, c'mon! With infinite power, surely there is something else you can do, something that is not _genocide_ ," Peter rants.

"Peter, what are you doing?" Drax questions. "Just fight him already!"

"What is it with people in power and genocide. Just Ego and you in the last what, month? Genocide is never the answer. There are about a gazillion reasons why so, but I don't think any of them will work with you, dickhead, so I'll argue in this direction.

"Like I said, genocide is just boring. Like, say you manage to get that Gauntlet of Infinite Power, there are different things you can do. Like, make uninhabitable places uninhabitable for some species needing more space for example. The universe is big enough, Biff fucking Tannen, surely there would be something you can do."

"He has a point," Gamora points out.

Peter notes that both she and Drax don't question his _Back to the Future_ reference, which either means that he's used that one in their company already, or they've chosen to ignore it for now and focus. Or they're still distracted by that Thor guy's physique that actually wasn't that different from Peter's and ouch.

Drax uses that moment to attack Thanos again, which is an idea that Peter wholeheartedly supports, so he joins in. Gamora frees herself — somehow, she's awesome like that, Peter doesn't need to question it — and between the three of them they manage to give Thanos a pretty decent Round Two. Which, considering this purple dude has like half of the Infinity Stones, is actually pretty amazing.

Thanos still gets away with Gamora, but Peter is still glad that he could get that off his mind. After all, this is not yet the end, they still have time before it all completely goes to shit.

* * *

+1.

"You can't kill people because that is immoral."

"No!"

"That's madness!"

"This is not a solution!"

"It's too cruel!"

"We don't trade lives."


End file.
